Passed GPEN

Took the class back in October. Jeff McJunkin was a good instructor. I should have buckled down and taken the test in November, but life has lots of distractions and I found my calling in procrastination . Time caught up with me and I had to cram for the exam over the last week before my certification attempt expired.

I spend that time creating a lazy man's index. I took my first practice exam to see where I stood and scored a 76. I revised my index for a every bit of minutiae. In retrospect, I should have lab'd, lab'd again, and then lab'd some more. Took my second practice exam yesterday and scored a 86. Figured that gave me a little buffer for the actual exam.

The test was a bear. Felt much more difficult than both the practice exams. I ended up with an 86 on it as well.

Thank you guys. As far as what's next, I have the CCNA CyberOPS class starting in June. I'm really up in the air about scheduling a SANS class before then. At some point I'll have to decide what I want to be when I grow up.

What do you recommend for study materials? What practice exam(s) did you take?

All of the SANS exams are best attempted with their material and using their practice exams. People have outlined studying through outside material (normally books written by the instructors) but they are doing that by design. They make sure everyone who holds their certs have the same body of knowledge and they can charge a good amount for their material.

Firstly, congrats on your GPEN pass. Going back into Federal Government soon & I want them to pay for course & exam.

With respect to your CCNA Cyber Ops 3rd cohort that begins in June, I can say, given your posted pedigree of certifications, a few things:

1. You won't have any trouble with the concepts. You've already seen 90% of them in one or more of your certs.

2. Time will be your enemy. The sections reading, videos, quizzes & labs are time consuming. Especially the labs. Unless you blow through them & learn nothing, they take time. And you can't just skim the material. The 210-250 is easy if you have Cisco's point of view down pat (not ISC2 or EC-Council).

3. You gotta set aside 2 hours each week for a webex with your sub-section's mentors. They'll go over the highlights of each section that are important. Critically, they'll go over topics that are critical to study in order to pass each exam at the end of each course. Those webexs are must see events. Your mentors SHOULD record each webex for you to review at your convenience. If they don't, ask them to on day 1.

The SECFND book comes out in April or May. I'd grab that & dive in BEFORE your cohort begins in June rather than doing another SANS course. Anyway, just my 2 cents and it's well worth remembering that I DON'T know things before OR after drinking.

Firstly, congrats on your GPEN pass. Going back into Federal Government soon & I want them to pay for course & exam.

With respect to your CCNA Cyber Ops 3rd cohort that begins in June, I can say, given your posted pedigree of certifications, a few things:

1. You won't have any trouble with the concepts. You've already seen 90% of them in one or more of your certs.

2. Time will be your enemy. The sections reading, videos, quizzes & labs are time consuming. Especially the labs. Unless you blow through them & learn nothing, they take time. And you can't just skim the material. The 210-250 is easy if you have Cisco's point of view down pat (not ISC2 or EC-Council).

3. You gotta set aside 2 hours each week for a webex with your sub-section's mentors. They'll go over the highlights of each section that are important. Critically, they'll go over topics that are critical to study in order to pass each exam at the end of each course. Those webexs are must see events. Your mentors SHOULD record each webex for you to review at your convenience. If they don't, ask them to on day 1.

The SECFND book comes out in April or May. I'd grab that & dive in BEFORE your cohort begins in June rather than doing another SANS course. Anyway, just my 2 cents and it's well worth remembering that I DON'T know things before OR after drinking.

In a prior life I was a CCSP(Now called CCNP Security), so I understand what you mean about their POV. I will most certainly pickup that SECFND when it comes out. The funny thing is, I can take almost any class I want this year, but I can't decide what that should be. I should start my yearly SANS collection, but I have a strong impulse to do something more technology specific. Ugh.